This invention relates to a device for inserting photographic transparencies, i.e. picture slides, into storage pockets.
A popular photographic medium is a film transparency, 35 mm slide being a common example. After processing, the individual exposures are mounted within two inch by two inch perimeter frames which have a thickness between 0.048 and 0.060 inch. For viewing, the slides are displayed by means of a viewer or projector.
When the transparencies are not in use, the typical practice is to store them in such a manner that they can be quickly identified, removed from storage for use, and then returned to storage after use. One common type of storage device is a binder-mounted page containing multiple storage pockets. The typical page comprises twenty pockets arranged in a four by five pattern. The individual pockets are rectangular shaped, slightly larger than the rectangular shape of the standard mounted film transparency. Each pocket is open along one edge, typically, but not restricted to, the top edge, to form the pocket's opening via which a transparency is inserted into and removed from the pocket. The typical storage page is a synthetic material such as a softer, pliable plastic. Preferably, it has a certain degree of transparency to enable an individual to see the mounted film transparencies in its pockets.
Insofar as the applicant is aware, mounted film transparencies have always been stored in and removed from the storage pockets by hand. The manner of removing the slides from the storage pockets involves a person using his or her thumb and finger to grip the border of the slide's frame which is at a pocket opening and pull the slide out of the pocket. The task of inserting a slide back into a pocket is somewhat more time consuming because the pocket opening must typically be flexed slightly and the edges of the slide's frame must be accurately aligned with the sides of the pocket before the slide can be reinserted into the pocket. One would give little heed to the task of storing a small number of slides in pockets, but storing a large number of transparencies in pockets is a time-consuming task. In commercial use, where a project involves large numbers of slides, a lot of time is spent on returning the slides to storage.
The present invention relates to a device for inserting picture slides into storage pockets, and as such it is intended to enable a large number of slides to be quickly inserted into storage pockets. In this way, the time-consuming task of inserting a large number of slides by hand into the storage pockets can be eliminated.
Further aspects of the invention within the generic context, relate to the organization and arrangement of the various parts of the device, particularly in the manner in which slides to be stored are loaded into the device and the manner in which an individual slide is discharge from the device into a storage pocket. The device has an efficient and advantageous organization and arrangement of individual component parts.
The foregoing features, advantages and benefits of the invention, along with additional ones, will be seen in the ensuing description and claims which should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings disclose a preferred embodiment of the invention according to the best mode contemplated at the present time in carrying out the invention.